Aston Villa have appointed Hendrik Almstadt as sporting director.
The 40-year-old German moves to Villa Park from Arsenal, where he spent the last four years, tasked with improving Villa s scouting network.
Almstadt is the first person to hold a sporting director role at Aston Villa and the club s chief executive Tom Fox, who worked at Arsenal between 2009 and 2014, said: I m really pleased to welcome Hendrik to Aston Villa.
I was able to see first hand the excellent work he did at Arsenal and he will add tremendous value across our entire football set-up.
Almstadt starts in his post on Monday and said: I can t wait to start my new role at Aston Villa. It is a club with huge potential, a rich history and deep roots in Birmingham, the Midlands, and within English and European football.
I look forward to working again with Tom Fox and to establish a close relationship with the manager, Tim Sherwood.
Sherwood believes Almstadt will provide make life easier for him in the Villa Park dugout.
He said: I m really excited Hendrik is joining. We have a lot of work to do at the football club and Hendrik will make the job I have here easier.
